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Pebbles From An 
African Beach 




"To learn facts takes pains and pa- 
tience, but nothing save holiness com- 
mands such homage as a thorough mas- 
tery of facts. It is the rarest and cost- 
liest product in the mental market."— 
Arthur T. Pierson. 



LEWIS GARNETT JORDAN 



25 Cents Per Gopy 



OCT |4 1318 
©CI.A505407 



>HC \ 



s 






Cop;-' ll._-.Ib> 

1918,- by L. Q. Jordan, Secretary; 



LIBERIA 

A BRIEF STUDY 



Geographical, Historical,. Political. Industrial, 

Spiritual 

A glance at its past: a consideration of its 
present ; a peep into its future. 

Designed as a Missionary Text-Book lb** use 
in Evangelical Churches, Sabbath Schools, 
Women's and Young People's Societies. 



CONTENTS 



FOREWORD 
Chapter 1— Retrospective 

Chapter 2 — Geographical 

Chapter 3 — Historical 

Chapter 4 — Political 

Chapter 5 — Industrial 

Chapter 6 — Spiritual 

AFTERWORD 



FOREWORD 



On my return from Africa, in May, 1917, 
I found that Africa was to be the subject o^ 
Mission Study this year. "The Missionary Edu- 
cation Movement/' of New York, had published 
two books as text-books on Africa, for use in 
the churches for the study of Missions this sea- 
son. Both books dealt with Africa as a whole. 
Liberia being so small it would not be seen in 
the little space alotted it in discussion. Liberia 
deserves special attention. 

Having visited Africa three times and made 
it a special study for twenty-five years, I have 
been repeatedly urged to write on the subject. 
but my time was so completely occupied that it 
seemed impossible to find the extra time needed 
for such a task. However, after long debating, 
remembering the onesided way in which most 
writers deal with Africa, along with some recent 
impressions made, I think it necessary to forget 
every handicap and have finally decided to 
present this little booklet without apology. 




His Excellency D. E. Howard, 
President, Republic of Liberia, Monrovia. 
His Excellency S. G. Harmon, 

Vice-President, Republic of Liberia. 




Fessy Girls on their way upwards 



Pebbles From An African Beach 3 

Chapter 1 — Retrospective 

On the trip from which I have recently re- 
turned, I visited a portion of Africa where 
ground peas or peanuts are the staple product 
of the people. Monkeys, baboons and other 
animals destroy these crops, though the natives 
must grow them to get their hut tax for the 
government, and will be jailed if they do not 
pay. Yet they are not allowed any kind of 
firearms to protect their crop. They must build 
bonfires, beat boomerangs and watch the grow- 
ing crop by day and by night to save any part 
of it. It was here I saw a carload of guns, taken 
from the natives, broken and sent by boat a 
mile out to sea and dropped into the ocean. But 
none of these cruel precautions will save Africa's 
traducers from the wrath of God and the judg- 
ment of sane thinking men in the years to 
come. With 600,000 Africans fighting in the 
trenches with the allies and an equal number 
in arms in various portions of Africa under the 
governments who have taken over the continent, 
it can never be hoped to again make the African 
a docile creature, to be dumb driven like a 
brute, which his oppressors have been 100 years 
or more in the making. In all missionary liter- 
ature written, good men tell us, Africans are 
awakening and once they are awake they must 
be dealt with as men and not as children. 

Scenes like that described above will make 
you weep for the people. They must have our 
sympathy and our help and we must know their 
needs, hence, I have tried to pick these "Pebbles 
From an African Beach" and so arrange them 
that all may see the vision, and by prayer, giv- 
ing of our substance and life itself, these 
people may know themselves, the outer 
world and the great God. 



4 Pebbles From An African Beach 

Africa ! The very sounding of the name car- 
ries with it a mystery almost as impenetrable 
as the Sphinx reposing through the centuries 
on its trackless desert. And as always with 
mystery goes charm, so Africa holds potent fas-- 
cination for student and scholar, traveler and 
adventurer, soldier and missionary alike. 

Africa! Mighty continent of mystery and 
charm. Egyptologists have upheaved its sur- 
face and disentombed colossal cities and vast 
empires that lived, flourished and died in by- 
gone ages so remote as to be almost lost in the 
hazes of history. Archaeological expeditions 
sent out by Yale and Harvard, by England, 
France and Germany, have uncovered much 
of the buried and forgotten grandeur of old- 
time civilizations founded and developed by the 
ancient black man. Napoleon fought epoch- 
making battles under its scorching sun. The 
sovereign powers of the present-day world, in- 
spired by the lust of conquest and territorial 
expansion, have partitioned the continent 
among themselves and waxed rich with its 
natural treasures. Intrepid explorers, like Liv- 
ingstone and Stanley, have penetrated its fast- 
nesses and dared its jungle diseases to add to the 
world's store of knowledge, and incidentally, 
to strike the light of Christianity and civiliza- 
tion into its darkest interior. Commerce has 
exploited both its people and its resources, and 
its ships have carried away untold tons of 
products in exchange for the white man's rum 
and vice. Missions have expended millions of 
dollars and thousands of lives in obedience to 
the " Great Commission" of the Savior of the 
world. 



Pebbles From An African Beach 5 

It is said many of those missionaries spent 
more time impressing the natives with the great- 
ness of the white man than they did in impres- 
sing him with the truths of the Bible and the 
greatness of the character of Jesus Christ, and 
many of the most oppressive officials in all 
parts of Africa are the sons of the missionaries 
of 50 or more years ago. 

For a long time when I read in missionary 
papers and magazines of "my boys," "my car- 
rier boys/' etc., I thought they meant minors,, 
but I have learned with great sorrow they meant 
men. Thus the African is not allowed to think 
as a man, or think himself a man. This won't 
last. 

And yet, to the millions of Africans living 
there, Africa holds no interest or meaning be- 
yond the limits of their tribal boundary; and 
to the millions of African descendants living 
in America, Africa is nothing more than an 
odious name. 

Strange paradox ! Every seventh man in our 
world lives in Africa, and every tenth man in 
our own country is of African descent! and 
yet these more than ten million American 
Negroes know little of Africa in general and 
almost nothing of Liberia in particular. 

Here is the only Negro Republic in Africa, 
and ten million citizens of this great Republic 
know almost nothing of the sister Republic, 
and care less. 

It is to remedy this deplorable condition that 
this text-book is prepared and published. It 
is to stimulate the Negro in America, who may 
be dissatisfied with his lot here, who may chafe 
under discrimination and segregation, and long 
for a liberty that is not circumscribed by preju- 
dice, to turn his thought to Liberia. There is 
an open door and a welcome hand to the Negro 



6 Pebbles From An African Beach I 

who wishes to return to the land of his fathers, 
not only to aid in its betterment with Bible, 
tool and farm* implement, but to better himself 
in the open field of opportunity, 

Throughout the world he is scorned as an 
African. None of the nations that have spheres 
*of influence or colonies in all Africa welcome 
t,he return to the continent of the American 
Negro. When he goes there as a missionary he 
is harrassed by the governments and given all 
the trouble possible. Liberia alone has an open 
door and extends a welcome hand to the Negro 
who wishes to return to the land of his fathers. 

Could any stronger argument be found — is 
any other needed — to convince the colored peo- 
ple of America that it is their sacred duty to 
read, study, mentally digest and assimilate the 
facts herein set forth? 

Who knows but that, through the Republic 
of Liberia, the Negro is again coming into his 
own? What though he is down today, if only 
he is struggling up! He was at the summit 
yesterday; he may be there again tomorrow. 
A thousand years in God's sight are but as a 
day; and history repeats itself. 

If we were disposed to admit the truth of 
the allegations that the Negro is inferior, or 
marked with a curse, or not of human origin — 
allegations often seriously made — we have but 
to point to the records of history to find that 
an inhuman, inferior and cursed race were the 
pioneers of the world's industry, culture and 
conquest — the builders of civilization — ages be- 
fore the haughty Teuton or proud Anglo-Saxon 
came upon the scene. And down through the 

centuries, under tyranny and oppression and 
darkness and slavery, the irrepressible black 
man has ever bobbed up, giving the world some 



Pebbles From An African Beach 7 

of its mightiest heroes and remarkable geniuses. 

The Republic of Liberia has passed the ex- 
perimental stage ; it is a demonstrated and rec- 
ognized fact. At its birth, just seventy years 
ago, it was not believed that the Negro was 
capable of self-government; today the little 
Republic occupies her seat in the Congress of 
Nations and has diplomatic intercourse with 
the other sovereign states of the world. 

And why not? As a founder, the black man 
is not a new thing under the sun. In common 
with all races, we have had our pioneers and 
founders. 

A great-grandson of Ham, named Sheba, 
founded the wealthy kingdom which bore his 
name. The civilized world knows of the mem- 
orable visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon 
the magnificent. For splendor of cavalcade 
and untold value of gifts it has rarely been 
equaled in history. So a black woman, Queen 
Balkis of Sheba, was monarch of this prosper- 
ous kingdom which a black man founded. 

Cush was the eldest son of Ham and himself 
the father of six sons, of whom Seba and Nim- 
rod were the greatest and best known. The 
descendants of Seba founded what is now 
known as Nubia; and it was from among these 
Negroes, so Josephus tells us, that Moses, the 
law-giver, got his Ethiopian wife. So again 
a black woman became at least the helpmeet 
of the founder of the kingdom of Israel. 

The youngest grandson of Ham, Nimrod, 
the "mighty hunter before the Lord," was the 
founder of Babylon: then a colony was sent to 
found Nineveh. So a black man was respons- 
ible for the two greatest inland cities of the 
ancient world; a Negro was the founder of 
what, in some respects, was the mightiest em- 
pire and grandest civilization of all history. 



8 Pebbles From An African Beach 

Just this little lifting of the curtain and this 
mere peep into the past is enough to show that 
the Negro is no amateur or tyro as a pioneer 
and founder. It is enough to show the place 
he occupied in the history of hy-gone ages. It 
is enough to thrill us with pride and kindle us 
with ambition at the achievements of our an- 
cestors. And it is their spirits which are speak- 
ing to and acting through the Liberians today, 
and bidding them develop and perpetuate the 
Republic they have founded. It is their spirits 
which are speaking to us here in America, bid- 
ding us not to forget our fatherland and our 
millions of brothers there; and not to be 
ashamed to own that our ancestors were thick- 
lipped and black-skinned and wooly-haired> be- 
cause by their culture and skill and bravery 
they have laid the modern world under obli- 
gation to them, as by our own racial develop- 
ment, and integrity and unity, we can in turn 
lay the future world under obligation to us. 

So, too, the present day has had its Negro 
pioneers and founders — men and women who 
shine in our historical firmament and have left 
us a magnificent heritage. When we speak of 
Homer, Dante, Goethe, Shakespeare, we lose 
all sense of place and race. We cannot locate 
them on the map. They belong to the world. 
When we speak of Washington, Lincoln, Edi- 
son, Emerson, America dare not make ex- 
clusive claim to them. Humanity has long 
since recognized them as its own. And in this 
category of pioneers and founders and makers 
of history we dare not omit Frederick Douglass, 
Booker Washington or Alexander Dumas. 
They, too, belong to the world. 

The world cannot forget Toussaint L'Ouver- 
ture, soldier-statesman, who defied the concen- 
trated might of Europe, and planted the tree 



Pebbles From An African Beach 9 

of liberty so deep that a hundred years have not 
been able to root it up. The world cannot for- 
get Richard Allen, who stands with the found- 
ers of religious liberty. Then there is Moses 
Dickson, pioneer of Negro secret organizations, 
founder of the Knights of Liberty, who in the 
ten years preceding the Civil War, carried 70,- 
000 slaves to liberty, and conducted their affairs 
so secretly that nobody knew the names of the 
original twelve or that such an organization 
existed. 

We need not ask the world to remember, for 
it will never forget, Alexander Dumas, who 
wrote more novels, historical sketches, plays 
and travels than any other man who ever lived. 

Nor is the future going to forget Elijah 
Johnson and Paul CufTe and Lott Carey, 
pioneers and founders in the making of Liberia. 

Then, all hail Liberia! We wish you God 
speed. Strong in your faith in an ever-watch- 
ing Providence and confident of your own 
ability, march on Ivith the free states of earth 
to the goal of liberty and human equality. 

As "the love of liberty (which you have 
found and enjoyed without stint or grudge) 
brought you there," so may it fill you with en- 
compassing love for the millions of your broth- 
ers whom you found there, and impel you to 
take them into your heart and your life. Then 
shall they, too, like us, love and appreciate not 
only political liberty, regulated by law, but 
that higher spiritual liberty, governed by Di- 
vine law "The truth shall make you free." Then 
shall all, from the humblest of Darkest Africa 
to the greatest of promising Liberia, and en- 
lightened America "Fear God and keep His 
commandments." Again, all hail Liberia! We, 
in this boasted land of the free, are also strug- 
gling up and looking up and shall join you in 



10 Pebbles From An African Beach 

your efforts to dispel the night of ignorance, 
resting like a pall upon the greatest continent 
of earth, and usher in the day of wisdom, when 
your millions and ours shall know each other 
better and love each other as we should. 

Till then, shine on — though it be but a feeble 
light — in your firmament and we in ours till 
the dawn of the day when the Son of Righteous- 
ness shall break in His glory over all the chil- 
dren of Africa. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER II 

1. What is the origin of the name of 
Liberia ? 

2. Describe the exact location of Liberia. 

3. To what coast section does it correspond 
and belong? 

4. What is the extent of Liberia's coast 
line? 

5. When and by whom were the boun- 
daries of Liberia fixed? 

7. What is the nature* of the coast? 

6. How much of the country is under 
development? 

8. What about the harbors? 

9. What is the nature of the interior? 

10. What is the difference between the na- 
tives of the coast and interior, and why? 

11. Describe the climate of Liberia. 

12. Name the rivers of Liberia. 

13. What about the lakes? 

14. What is the character of the scenery? 

15. Mention some of the flowers. 
18. What is the capital of Liberia? 

17. Describe its location. 

18. Wliat is its population? 

19. Name some of its exports. 

20. What are some of the institutions? 




NATIVES AND THEIR HOME 




^ A Mission School 



Pebbles From An African Beach 11 

CHAPTER II 

Geographical 

Liberia derives its name from the Latin — - 
liber, free; hence the little Republic is well 
named, for it is the one place wiiere the black 
man finds full freedom and the enjoyment of 
those inalienable privileges which by right 
belong to free men. 

The Republic is situated on the west coast 
of Africa, between Sierra Leone and the Ivory 
Coast; or in the western part of what some of 
us remember was called on the old maps Upper 
Guinea. 

The various sections of the long coast line of 
West Africa have been known by the names of 
the natural products which formed the basis 
of their trade. Thus, we have the Grain Coast, 
Slave Coast, Ivory Coast, Gold Coast. 

Liberia corresponds with the old Grain Coast 
from which were, and are still, taken the grains 
"Malagneta Pepper," once a notable import in 
Europe. 

The Republic has a coast line stretching 
along the Atlantic for about 350 miles, north- 
west to southeast, from the Mano River on the 
west to the Cavalry on the East. It includes 
an area of a little upwards of 40,000 square 
miles — a trifle more than the State of Ohio. 

The boundaries were definitely fixed with 
England and France in 1885 and 1892, when 
in the latter year that part of the interior which 
drains into the Niger fell to France. 

Only the coast strip, with an average width 
of seven miles, is under development and ad- 
ministration. This coast is for the most part 
a low and flat sandy beach jutted at intervals 
by ragged reefs of rocks, forming a shore where 



12 Pebbles From An African Beach 

there (ire inadequate harbors or none at all. 
These leagues of. open sea beach are broken 
here and there by the brown flood of rivers that 
are navigable no more than a few miles inland, 
where among the hills of the coast ranges they 
are transformed into beautiful ca:cades and 
picturesque rapid*. 

Because of this absence of suitable harbors, 
steamers lie off shore and put passengers over 
the side into surf boats. The traveler to Liberia 
will never forget this experience. lie sits in 
the surf boat between the dark bodies of the 
rowers who line the gunwale-'. They sing the 
songs of rowing — like the Italian gondoliers. 
They rise and fall to the paddle with a fasci- 
nating ryhthm. In contrast to their skin are 
the pearly white of their per "eel teeth and the 
flashing white of their brilliant eyes. They 
shout and swing in a mea-ured exhilaration as 
one man. One sees the origin of the scenes on 
our own Southern levee- 1 . 

But if the first impression of the coast is dis- 
appointing and forbidding, it is soon dispelled 
as one advance- inland. The interior is elevated 
and clothed with valuable forests of gum trees, 
oil palms and pepper shrubs. These regions 
are healthful, well watered and fertile, and con- 
tain a class of native- superior to tho^e living 
on the coast. The people are numerous and 
have had little contact with civilization. This 
is in their favor, as the coast civilization is 
more or less corrupt, and demoralizes the na- 
tives more than it uplifts them, because — sad 
to relate — tire influence- of trade and commerce 
upon the aborigine i are degrading. 

Not many mile* back from the coast begin 
gradual undulations of land, succeeded by con- 
spicuous elevations and mountains running 
parallel with the coast. Rivers and their tribu- 






Pebbles From An African Beach 13 

taries flow gently over beds of sand and gravel, 
and then, meeting huge rocks, dash wildly 
down on their journey to the sea. 

Throughout Liberia the climate is salubrious 
and the soil is thus capable of producing in 
abundance all the tropical vegetation for which 
the continent is noted. Adverse critics have 
called the climate the hottest on earth, but it 
is not nearly so dangerous as that of Sierra 
Leone, immediately to the northwest. 

January is the warmest month. There are 
two rainy seasons, yielding over 150 inches in 
rain per year — one in June and July ; the 
other in October and November. There is a 
marked difference between the climate of the 
forest region and that of the Mandigo Plateau. 
In the forest region the dry season is short and 
is the hottest part of the year, including the 
months of December, January and February* 
At this season the temperature ranges from 
55 degrees at night to 100 degrees in the shade 
at midday. 

During the wet season the daily range is= 
almost nothing, the thermometer standing at 
about 75 degrees. The coolest month of the 
year is August, when the day temperature is 
69 degrees and the night 65 degrees. 

Upon the Plateau the annual rain fall is be- 
lieved to be not more than from 60 to 70 inches. 
The dry season lasts from November to May, 
during which time vegetation is parched. The 
nights, however, are cool, and at an altitude 
of 3,000 feet become cold. The hottest period 
of the entire year is at the beginning and end 
of the rainy season, when the thermometer 
sometimes registers 100 degrees or more at mid- 
day. 

There are many rivers in Liberia. All are 
comparatively small and shallow, though Aviden- 



14 Pebbles From An African Beach 

ing somewhat as they near the mouth. Few of 
them are navigable to any distance, and even 
then only by small boats. The St. Paul River, 
supposed to be 200 miles long, can be ascended 
only to a distance of 25 miles; the Dukovia 
only about 30 miles; while the Cavally, con- 
sidered by some the longest river in the Re- 
public, is navigable for about 80 miles. 

There is an absence of real lakes, though the 
country abounds in lagoons which are fre- 
quently referred to as lakes — as, for example, 
Fishermen's Fake and Sheppard Lake. 

All the waters provide fish in abundance. 
The natives seldom use hook and line, but 
go into the waters with basket and net. 

As may be judged from the descriptions al- 
ready given, the scenic beauty of Liberia is 
equal to that of any territory of equal size on 
earth. There is a rugged grandeur that vies 
with the Rocky Mountains or the Swiss Alps. 
There is a wealth of foliage as varicolored and 
prodigal as that of Jamaica or Java. There are 
fertile valleys blooming with the exuberance 
of an American June day ; trees bending under 
the weight of luscious fruit, and lands running 
over with rich tropical products of commerce. 
In the virgin forests are many varieties of valu- 
able timber, while in the clearings dotting the 
hillsides are ripening fields of grains and roots. 
Horses and cattle roam the plains, and herds 
of elephants, furnishing ivory, feed in the up- 
lands. These latter, with buffalo and other 
game, give exciting sport to the intrepid hunter. 
Quite five-sixths of the area of Liberia is 
covered with forests, dense even for the tropics. 
Through these magnificent stretches of woods 
the sun strikes down its flickering rays. Pene- 
trating the deep, rich green of the foliage and 
reflected against the broad leaves of trees and 



Pebbles From An African Beach 15 

shrubbery, the woodland is bathed in a mellow 
refreshment. 

In the giant treetops, whose wide-spreading 
brandies form a hugh natural canopy, are 
heard the fascinating love notes of birds, and 
leaping and swinging from limb to limb, in 
gleeful mischievous spirit, performing a thou- 
sand pranks, are hordes of monkeys. 

Numerous rivulets, whose transparent waters 
reveal the beds of sand and gravel over which 
they flow, and with the purity and excellence 
which only the health-giving mountain and 
forest can import, empty themselves into rivers 
on whose calm surface float fragrant lilies, 
blended with the reflected images of sky and 
shore. On their banks grow in gorgeous pro- 
fusion wild flowers and palms; and festoons of 
parasitic plants hang from the tops of the tall- 
est trees to the water's edge. 

The plains are covered with tall grasses and 
bush of such density that one is completely 
hidden amidst the mass and confusion. The 
very paths beneath the feet are so beset with 
luxuriant weeds that it is not, possible to see on 
what one is walking. 

And above all, Liberia is a land of flowers. 

Most of us are accustomed to hear so much 

that is unattractive and repellent about Africa 

in general and Liberia in particlar. that it is 

well to correct this mistaken impression. 

Crowning the scenic splendor of the little 
Republic are the flowers. They differ from 
those of the temperate climes in brilliancy of 
color, luxuriance of growth, and in breathing 
their odors only after sunset. There is the 
frangipanni tree, exhaling its delicate fragrance 
and casting its welcome shade. Beautiful jessa- 
mines grow in the forest. The stately oleander 
lifts twenty feet high, its pink flowers objects 



16 Pebbles From An African Beach 

of beauty and richness. The lily is notable 
for delicacy and fragrance; the most remark- 
able being the chandelier lily, with its six petals 
four inches long, hanging from beneath six 
stamens an inch shorter, and growing out of 
the margin of a tunnel-shaped corolla. There 
are lofty palms and tangled bamboos, present- 
ing a beautiful picture "as the prismatic hues 
of the sun are reflected on leaf and blade and 
stalk. 

Africa at large may still be the "Dark Con- 
tinent/'' but Liberia is one of its brightest spots, 
for there the Creator has scattered his boun- 
teous gifts with a lavish hand. Flowers are 
always blooming and birds are ever singing, 
and in very truth, the desert does "rejoice and 
blossom as the rose." 

If nature can do so much to beautify the 
Republic and make it a garden spot, what may 
not man do, assisted by nature's God, to de- 
velop it and place it in the front rank of the 
nations of the earth. 

The capital of the Republic of Liberia is the 
uity of Monrovia, named after President Mon- 
roe, of the United States. It is situated at the 
mouth of the St. Paul River, on the coast. 

The city is built on a rugged ridge, and 
looking off from the piazza of the highest build- 
ing in the town, a splendid view may be had 
•of most of the capital and the surrounding 
country. Nestling amid a variety of tropical 
fruit-bearing trees, the attractive houses pay 
a silent compliment to their owners. 

The population of Monrovia, including the 
suburb of Krootown, is about 6,000 people. The 
town is full of activity and generally alive with 
people — mostly residents and natives, and often 
foreigners and visitors. 

The approach to Monrovia from the sea pre- 



Pebbles From An African Beach 17 

sents a unique and attractive appearance. Com- 
ing from a distant land, the change and scene 
are more strikingly pronounced. It is like 
entering a new world and one gazes intently 
about in child-like wonder and delight. 

Yonder is Krootown, a native village lykig 
on the beach, with its more than 300 dwellings 
and its noisy bustling populace. To the north 
rises Cape Mount, lifting like a sentinel from 
out of the sea and standing in bold contrast to 
the low-lying coast land. In the same direction 
is the white ajid regular shore line, stretching 
as far as the eye can see. To the northeast are 
the high and healthful uplands of the interior, 
with their numerous pagan tribes and vast phy- 
sical resources. Stockton Creek and the Mesu- 
rado River, as well as the St. Paul, wind their 
silvery way through the country. To the south 
and west roils the great Atlantic, 4,000 miles 
across to the eastern shore of South America. 

Monrovia boasts a Government College and 
one conducted by Methodist missionaries. The 
city is also the seat of the Protestant Episcopal 
Bishop and of an American and Roman Cath- 
olic mission. Here, too, are the headquarters 
of the German and South African Cable Com- 
panies, since Liberia has declared with the Allies 
in the great war now going on, the former has 
been taken over by the government of the Re- 
public. 

The exports from Monrovia are palm oil and 
kernels, coffee, ginger, fiber, cocoa, dyewoods 
and rubber to the amount of $3,000,000 annu- 
ally. These exports were chiefly to Great 
Britain and Germany before the war. 




Miss Susie M. Taylor. 




Bible and Industrial Mission Build- 
ing, Grand Bassa. 



Pebbles From An African Beach 19 



CHAPTER HI 

Historical 

The Republic of Liberia owes its origin to 
the efforts of the National Colonization Society 
of America, organized in 1816, for the purpose 
of colonizing in Africa the free colored people 
in the United States. Some practical solution 
of what was even then recognized as the Negro 
problem had been sought by American philan- 
thropists as far back as 1773. 

Strange to say, the very first practical step 
toward the solution of the problem of the black 
man was taken by a black man, Paul Cuffe. 
In 1815, one year before the organization of 
the Colonization Society, this Negro carried to 
Africa, at his own expense, a score of his coun- 
trymen whom he landed at Sierra Leone. This 
feat strengthened the faith of the Society in 
the colonization idea. 

The first attempt to locate, which was made 
in Sherbo Island, south of Sierra Leone, in 
1820, on account of the excellent harbor there, 
failed because of the unhealthy character of 
the locality. But in December, 1821, a treaty 
was concluded by Lieutenant Stockton with 
certain native princes, by which a tract of land 
suitable for the purpose was acquired about 
Cape Montserrado. 

It was some weeks before the hostility of 
the natives, who were wedded to the slave trade, 
could be overcome; but in April, 1822, active 
operations were begun on the mainland. A 
30-acre tract was alloted each man with the 
means of cultivating it. 



20 Pebbles From An African Beach 

The Society agents became discouraged at 
the difficulties that were met and with the. 
faint-hearted pioneers returned to America ; but 
the strong-hearted rallied around a determined 
Negro, Elijah Johnson, and remained. 

The little colony was not without its trials 
and ordeals. Made up of black peopie with- 
out money or education and with their man- 
hood crushed out through the cruel servitude 
of the great Republic, they were ill-fitted as 
pioneers and colonists. There was a hostile 
people to subdue and a deadly climate to con- 
quer, with quinine and other anti-febrin drugs 
as yet unknown. 

But these brave people did not quail. They 
adopted an appropriate and inspiring motto — 
"The love of liberty brought us here" — and 
there they stayed, and there they have been 
ever since. They were the founders of the 
Republic of Liberia, as the Pilgrim fathers were 
the founders of the Republic of the United 
States, and their motto has become the official 
motto of a recognized commonwealth. Without 
the aid of a mother country, they fought back 
or assimilated hostile tribes, waged successful, 
warfare against disease, and set about to raise 
upon that distant shore the banner of Negro 
liberty and independence. 

As America has her historic days, recording 
some victory over the native savages or the 
more civilized tyrant across the seas, so Liberia 
today celebrates her historic occasions in honor 
of these pioneer colonists who triumphed over 
the hostile tribes that would block their way. 
Such a day is the first of December and such 
an immortal pioneer is Matilda Newport, whose 
memory is cherished and revered. It happened 
this wise: 

Every effort, both diplomatic and military, 



Pebbles Fro mAn African Beach 21 

was exerted by the colonists to protect them- 
selves against hostile assaults. But in spite of 
all, the little band was attacked on the morn- 
ing of November 11, 1822, by eight hundred 
natives, armed with cutlasses and war knives. 
They were repulsed by thirty-five colonists, all 
of whom were capable of bearing arms. 

Incensed by their defeat, the natives increased 
their forces to nearly sixteen hundred, and 
determined to expel the colonists from the Cape,, 
returned to the attack before dawn on December 
1. As they made charge after charge they were 
resisted by the courage and valor of the few 
colonists ; but as the latter were so greatly out- 
numbered it seemed as though they must be 
destroyed by the invaders. 

It was at this crisis, when the strongest valor 
was nearly faltering and the bravest hearts- 
were' about despairing, that Matilda Newport 
stepped forward and touched off a deserted 
cannon, which made such deafening noise and. 
sent such fear into the ranks of the enemy that 
they fled in dismay and defeat. Matilda New- 
port, by her quick thought and dauntless ac- 
tion, not only saved from destruction the little 
colonial seed destined to blossom into the Re- 
public, but enrolled herself among the heroes 
and heroines of history. 

So, as America celebrates her historic days 
and pays tribute to her departed heroes, Liberia 
observes her December first, to render her de- 
votion to Matilda Newport and to take new 
inspiration from the maejit of her name. But 
for the courage and sacrifice of these early pa- 
triots there would have been no colony, and 
perhaps no Liberia. 

After this the colony was enlarged by the 
honorable purchase of new lands from the 
natives of the country. New settlements were 



22 Pebbles From An African Beach 

formed at Cape Mount and in the newly ac- 
quired Bassa Land, in which, in 1834, a town 
was founded and called Edina, in acknowledg- 
ment of pecuniary aid sent to the colonists from 
Edinburgh. Many of the neighboring chiefs 
were received into the colony and others were 
subdued. 

But trials of many kinds, deprivations and 
'dissensions were the lot of the colony, managed 
;as it was oy a society which did not fully know 
whether its aims were sentimental or practical. 
Accordingly, in 1846, the American Coloniza- 
tion Society, in agreement with its original com- 
pact to resign the powers delegated to it when- 
ever the people should became capable of con- 
ducting the government, or whenever the peo- 
ple should desire it, peaceably withdrew its 
supervision and left the people to the govern- 
ment of themselves. By a set of resolutions, 
in January, 1846, all political connection with 
the people of Liberia was dissolved and the 
delegated power was returned. 

In the following year, on the twenty-sixth 
day of July, 1847, the people of the common- 
wealth in convention assembled, in the city of 
Monrovia, declared themselves a free, sovereign 
and independent state by the name of the Re- 
public of Liberia, and were recognized as such 
.by the important countries of the world. 

At once Liberia began to show prosperity. 
Numerous churches and schools were founded; 
a regular postal system was introduced; news- 
papers were established; and slavery in the 
neighboring states was abolished. The popu- 
lation has increased by migrations from Amer- 
ica and by accessions from native tribes. From 
time to time, as circumstances required it, the 
territory has been extended by purchase from 
ithe lords of the soil. With this increase of 



Pebbles From An African Beach 23 

population and extension of territory has been 
the growth in commerce, until now the flags 
of all nations float off the shore and the mer- 
chants of all countries engage in reciprocal and 
profitable trade. 

During the seventy years of life of the Re- 
public the growth has been gradual and steady, 
and today Liberia boasts truly and unmistak- 
ably a record of achievement unsurpassed by 
any other country of equal age struggling 
against equal handicaps. It is a well-governed 
and prosperous country, cheerfully working out 
its own destiny, and is fast becoming a recog- 
nized factor in the development of Africa. The 
Liberians are a patriotic, liberty-loving people 
who patiently but confidently hope and believe 
that the Negro race, and particularly the Negro 
in America, will recognize and accept their flag 
as the beacon light of opportunity and the 
emblem of real liberty. 

As is the case with our Fourth of July, the 
Liberians zealously celebrate their "Independ- 
ence Day," the twenty-sixth of July. Many 
little hearts beat with anxiety as they watch 
the sun rise on that glorious day, for nothing 
must mar the festivities observed in all the 
schools. When the school hour arrives the pri- 
mary students with the teachers, march in 
double file with measured steps to the main 
building where they join in the exercises with 
the older scholars. A program is gone through, 
including reading, singing and recitations, dur* 
ing which a teacher gives some facts about the 
twenty-sixth of July, followed by appropriate 
remarks. Then a scholar waves the Liberian 
flag as the school repeats: 

"I pledge my allegiance to the flag, 
And to the Republic for which it stands, 



24 Pebbles From An African Beach 

One country, one flag, one nation indi visible.' ' 

The first chords of Liberia's national anthem 
sound on the organ as the pledge ends. The 
boys and girls join in singing: 

All hail, Liberia, hail! 
This glorious land of liberty 
Shall long be ours. 
Tho' new her name, 
Green be her fame, 
And mighty be her pow'rs. 

In joy and gladness, with our hearts united, 
We'll shout the freedom of a race benighted ; 
Long live Liberia, happy land, 
A home of glorious liberty by God's command. 

All hail, Liberia, hail! 
In union strong success is sure ; 
f We cannot fail . ... , 

With God above, , 

Our right to prove, ' 

We will the world assail. 

With heart and hand our country's cause 

defending, 
We meet the foe, with valor unpretending; 
Long live Liberia, happy land, 
A home of glorious liberty by God's command. 

At the close of the anthem the boys and girls 
file out of the schoolroom to a lively march. 

Liberia has been justly called the "garden 
spot of West Africa." Whether judged by her 
magnificent scenery, or her rich natural re- 
sources, or her inviting labor market, or her 
absolute political equality, or her virgin fields 
and forests, she presents to the ambitious, as- 
piring Negro an opportunity without an equal 



Pebbles From An African Beach 25 

anywhere else on earth. The old policies which 
retarded her material and political development 
and made her the object of foreign ridicule and 
contempt have been abandoned. The citizens 
now fully realize their responsibility as the 
only Negro Republic in Africa, and are fast 
measuring up to the opportunity of proving to 
the world that the Negro is capable of standing 
alone and of conducting successfully and with 
credit a government upon Negro soil worthy 
of a place among the other recognized nations 
of the world. 



26 Pebbles From An African Beach 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER III 

1. What was the origin of Liberia? 

2. Who was the first pioneer? 

3. When was the first settlement made, and 
by whom? 

4. Was it successful? 

5. What other settlement was made? 

6. What were some of the early diffi- 
culties ? 

7. What is the motto of Liberia? 

8. Who was Matilda Newport? 

9. How did the colony grow? 

10. When and where was Edina founded? 

11. When did Liberia become a Republic? 

12. What were the causes leading up to it? 

13. What effect did independence have 
upon the country? 

14. Has the Republic proved a success? 

15. What is the present condition of 
Liberia ? 

16. What are the hopes of its citizens? 

17. W T hen is their Independence Day? 

18. How is it celebrated? 

19. Has the Negro shown himself capable 
of self government? 




c 



Honorable E. Lyons, Consul General of Liberia 
Honorable G. M. Parker, Senator of Liberia. 




A Residence Street in Monrovia, Liberia. 



Pebbles From An African Beach 27 

CHAPTER IV 

Political 

The constitution of Liberia is framed after 
that of the United States. Executive authority 
is vested in a President and Vice-President, 
elected for four years, and a council of six mem- 
bers. Legislative power rests with a Congress 
of two houses, known as the Senate, consisting 
of four members, and the House of Represen- 
tatives, with fourteen members. 

Voters must be of Negro blood and own real 
estate. Natives have not yet availed themselves 
generally of the suffrage. No foreigner can 
own real estate without the consent of the 
government. 

The coast territory is formed into the counties 
of Bassa, Maryland and Sino, with one super- 
intendent each, and Mont Serrado with four 
superintendents. 

In 1911 a plan was agreed upon by which 
the army was reorganized by American officers 
to assure the maintenance of peace. All able- 
bodied men between 16 and 50 are liable for 
military service. The actual military forces 
consist of militia, volunteers and police. 

British money is used in the Republic, but 
American money figures usually in the keep- 
ing of accounts. There is, however, a Liberian 
coinage and a rather large paper currency. 

The weights and measures are as a rule 
British. 

The official language of Liberia is English. 

The Declaration of Independence was pub- 
lished July 26, 1847. It is a calm, dignified 
statement of the causes which led the Liberians 



28 Pebbles From An African Beach 

to expatriate themselves from the land of their 
nativity and settle on the barbarous West Afri- 
can coast, and then to organize themselves into 
an independent state. 

The founders of the Republic were originally 
inhabitants of the United States where every 
avenue to improvement was effectually closed 
against them, merely because of the color of 
their skin. Foreigners of all other colors were 
welcomed to the country, which was the black 
man's only home, and were preferred before 
him. 

To all their complaints there w T as turned only 
a deaf ear. All hope of better conditions died 
in their hearts and they looked across the seas 
for some asylum and escape from the degra- 
dation and injustice heaped upon them in their 
native land. 

As stated in a previous chapter, the western 
coast of Africa was the place selected for their 
future home by benevolent and philanthropic 
Americans interested in the betterment of the 
oppressed American Negro. Under the auspices 
of the American Colonization Society, they set- 
tled in Liberia where they have grown and 
prospered. As the years passed the Society 
withdrew from all direct and active part in 
the administration of the government, except 
in the appointment of the Governor, oho -en 
from among the colonists, for the purpose of 
test-in? the abilitv of the people to manage their 
own affairs. Be it said to the everlasting credit 
of those pioneers and early settlers that no com- 
plaint was ever made of bad management or 
maladministration. Accordingly, in January, 
184). the American Colonization Society re- 
linquished wholly all connection with the gov- 
ernment and affairs of Liberia, and left the 
people of the government of themselves. 



Pebbles From An African Beach 29 

The following year the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence was published, setting forth the fore- 
going facts, and the Liberian constitution was 
adopted. The people threw themselves with 
confidence upon the just consideration of the 
civilized world. 

The Constitution of Liberia, which in its 
entirety is appended to this booklet, breathes 
the hopes and purposes of the people of Liberia 
''to exercise and improve those faculties which 
impart to man his dignity, to nourish in our 
hearts the flame of honorable ambition, to 
cherish and indulge these aspirations which a 
Beneficent Creator hath implanted in every 
human heart, and to evince to all who despise, 
ridicule and oppress our race that we possess 
with them a common nature, are with them sus- 
ceptil le of equal refinement, and capable of 
eoual advancement. in all that adorn- and dig- 
nifies man." 

Under such a constitution the hopes of 
Liberia could not help being realized. The 
Republic is now the happy home of thousands 
who were once the victims of oppression. Her 
door stands wide open to other thousands who 
are looking with anxious eye for some haven 
of rest. 

Her courts of justice are open equally to the 
strangers or the citizen for the redress of griev- 
ances, for the remedy of injuries and for the 
punishment of crime. 

Her numerous and -well-attended schools are 
kindling tine children with the principles of 
humanity, virtue and religion. 

Her churches providing a retreat where, free 
from fear or molestation, they can in peace and 
securitv worship the common Father of all man- 
kind, bear testimony to their piety and their 
r.{'\ nowjed'iiment of Cod's provident dealing 



'30 Pebbles From An African Beacb 

with Liberia. 

And the native African, their own brethren, 
have been touched with the light of a prac- 
tical Christianity; the slave trade has been 
abolished so far as their influence extends, and 
barbarous tribes are accepting the extended 
hand of industry, moral restraint and civiliza- 
tion. 

With such principles as these embodied in 
their Declaration of Independence, and such 
provisions made and long carried out under 
their constitution, Liberia appealed to the na- 
tions of Christendom, seventy years ago, "that 
they will regard us with the sympathy and 
friendly consideration to which the peculiarities 
of our condition entitle us, and to extend to 
us that comity which marks the friendly inter- 
course of civilized and independent commu- 
nities." 



Pebbles From An African Beach 31 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER IV 

1. After what is the Constitution of Liberia 
modeled? 

2. In whom is the executive authority 
vested ? 

3. Describe the legislative power. 

4. What are the requirements for voting? 

5. Name the counties of Liberia. 

6. What are the military provisions? 

7. What money is used in Liberia? 

8. What weights, measures and language? 

9. When was the Declaration of Independ- 
ence published? 

10. What were the causes leading up to it? 

11. From what country were the original 
settlers and founders? 

12. Under what auspices did they settle in 
Liberia? 

13. When did the Society sever connection 
with the affairs of Liberia? 

14. When was the Constitution adopted ? 

15. To what extent has it proven a success 9 



§2 Pebbles From An African Beach 

I """"' CHAPTER ■■•V 

Industrial ^ 3L 

Liberia is rich in its natural resources. Per- 
haps in all the world there cannot be found a 
more fertile soil and a more productive country, 
according to size and so far as it has been cul- 
tivated and developed. The material possibil- 
ities are wonderful — little short of marvelous. 
Already the country has contributed not a little 
to the fortune of European and her own citizens. 
A. Woerman, of the Woerman Steamship Com- 
pany, Hamburg, laid the foundation of Iris 
now large possessions in Liberia years ago. The 
great commercial and political interest taken 
in Liberia — as indeed in all Africa — by the 
Powers of Europe is chiefly because of the ma- 
terial possibilities. 

The productions of nature continue their 
growth through all seasons of the year. The 
hills and lowlands are clothed with a verdure 
that never fades. Even the natives, with little 
labor, and less tools, and no skill, raise more 
grain and A^egetables than they can consume 
or find a ready market for. Indeed, they do 
not yet know the full value of agriculture. 
Their farm life is rather fitful and quite meager. 
Amid great riches of soil and luxuriant vege- 
table growth, they are poor because ignorant 
of the possibilities within their reach. Certain 
seasons of the year, known as "hungry times," 
are more or less frequent, because of the fickle- 
ness with which the soil is cultivated. And yet 
there is no end to the vast amount of natural 
productions and wealth that may be had from 
the earth, when the natives are -fully taught 



Pebbles From An African Beach 33 

better agricultural methods and systematic 
tilling. 

The drawbacks to native farm life are many. 
While the soil is loose and fertile, vegetable life 
is rank and stubborn because neglected. Farm 
implements are inadequate; there are no plows 
to turn up the fallow ground. A short, crooked 
hoe is used, with which the ground is simply 
scratched. This hoe is not more than four 
inches wide, with a handle about twelve inches 
long. Farm clearings average about one acre 
in extent. This acre is attended only a short 
while when other clearings are made. Super- 
stitions are carried into farm life. A death in 
a town is sufficient cause for abandoning the 
place and opening up a farm elsewhere. There 
are farm fetiches to make the farm yield abund- 
antly and to counteract curses upon it by en- 
vious or unfriendly neighbors. Here is a great 
and splendid opportunity for the Negro in 
America to help his benighted brothers across 
the sea. Money should be given without stint to 
our Foreign Mission Board to enable it to en- 
large the scope of its industrial work in Liberia. 
There are horses and oxen aplenty, but not a 
single plow in use in the country. One horse 
or ox-drawn plow would do more to keep the 
coffee farms, for instance, clear of weeds than 
a dozen native hoes : yet not one is used. 

But this is only the dark side of the picture; 
it speaks only of the vast latent resource? await- 
ing the arrival of new citizens from the oppres- 
sion of America to the freedom of Lit eria. h 
only are all the Xegroe^ who have emi -, v 
to Liberia, or are de-eendants of the early set- 
tlers, engaged in lucrative pursuits, 1 n1 
of the natives are thrifty and proiporo 
Among the various tribes considerable 
tion is given not onlv to agriculture, but 



34 Pebbles From An African Beach 

manufacture. Extensive tracts of land are un- 
der cultivation. Native looms are busy spin- 
ning thousands of yards of cotton material ; 
work in metal, leather, wood, bark, grass and 
clay bears abundant evidence of artistic taste 
and skill in handicraft. 

Tn the race for the African trade, France, 
Germany, Great Britain and other European 
nations rivalled one another in the size of their 
fleets. Prior to the war a half dozen ships of 
as many flags might be seen most any time 
in Liberian harbors. Hence the people, 
Americo-Liberians and natives alike, came 
to look across the sea for many of the neces- 
sities of life. But now if a vessel drops 
anchor once a month, even in the harbor of 
Monrovia, the Capital, it is an unusual sight 
This cessation of trade has resulted in pro- 
hibitive prices for foreign products: flour, 
$35 a barrel : bacon. $1 per pound ; butter, 
$1.25; rice, 40 cents, and so on. ^nd also 
as a consequence, the Liberians are learning 
to look within, to develop their own resources, 
and, like other nations will emerge from the 
war a wi-er. better and more independent 
people. 

All the native^ are not ni^de but are dressed 
in a maimer adapted to their climate and their 
simnle taste 3 . Cotton material from their own 
looms furnish the garments for both men and 
women. Manv of the women delight in per- 
sonal ornament, and their vanity, like that of 
their sisters in more civilized lands, reveals 
ibelf in rich and costly ornaments of gold and 
silver. 

But chief among the industries of Liberia is 
agriculture. Cotton grows plentifully in some 
sections of the interior; the sugar cane flour- 
ishes, too; and plantains and bananas grow 




A Warehouse. 




A Native Town. 



Pebbles From An African Beach 35 

in endless profusion. In the clearings may be 
found rice, coffee, edible roots and oil palms. 
Abundant trees are laden with luscious tropica 4 ! 
fruits, and the land everywhere yields rubber, 
paisava, gum copal and kola. 

Salt is common, and in some sections it is 
interesting to see the natives transport it in what 
are known as "salt sticks." They are strips of 
bamboo about three feet long and three inches 
in diameter into which the salt is closely packed 
and the ends covered with leaves. This prevents 
the salt from getting wet. One person usually 
carries from fifteen to twenty of these sticks for 
a load, and fifty sticks of salt will buy a bullock. 
It is an article much in demand and almost 
everything can be bought with it. 

The vast virgin forests are a veritable gold 
mine, yielding to the intelligent and organ- 
ized efforts of the thrifty a constant and profit- 
able return. The valuable timbers, among 
which are mahogany, ebony, rosewood and 
canewood, together with fibers, gums and vines, 
offer large scope for lucrative trade and com- 
merce. The natives do no little carving in these 
woods. Mortars for cleaning coffee and rice 
are made from logs, also canoes for navigating 
the streams and rivers. Spoons, too. bowls, 
combs and wooden images may be seen in every 
town. The forests are cleared for land cultiva- 
tion by cutting down the trees with a small 
ax or hatchet. In preparing for farms, the rank 
brush vines and trees are. cleared away, and 
after they are dry they are burned. This process 
is known as "cutting farm." Cattle, swine, 
fowl, goats and sheep thrive without feeding 
and require no further care than Watching that 
they do not go astray. Cattle, particularly, are 
everywhere in large numbers, and horses, which 
do not thrive on the coast, are found in droves 



36 Pebbles From An African Beach 

in the interior — strong and healthy animals, 
used mostly in warfare and military demon- 
strations. 

Very little as yet is known of the geology of 
Liberia or of actual mineral values. Many 
metals have been found and the country is sup- 
posed to be rich in them. Gold appears to be 
there and copper, too, while rubies of good 
quality have been discovered. Companies have 
been organized for the mining of diamonds of 
which it is said actual gems have been discov-* 
ered. But mineral development has scarcely 
begun, though it is admitted that in the bowels 
of the earth is mineral wealth to an extent un- 
guessed. It requires but the "open sesame" of 
pluck and pick to disclose riches beyond the 
store of Ali Baba. 

The natives make many ornaments of gold 
and silver, and fashion in their forges many 
useful implements of iron which is abundant 
in most sections of the country. Some of these 
articles are the hoe, hatchet, knives, swords, 
needles, arrowheads, daggers and rings for 
ankle and arm ornamentation. 

In additions to the organized industries of 
the cities and towns, many of the natives are 
skilful at weaving mats, making baskets, 
caps, fish traps of bamboo, grass and palm 
leaf. Some of the country cloths made of 
cotton are woven with thread dyed with 
herb juices and are very pretty and well 
made. Useful vessels are made of clay, such 
as pots, water jars, basins and pipes, some 
being decorated with geometrical figures. 

Among the natives the women perform 
much of the heavy work, such as bringing 
wood and water and cultivating the farms. 
It is not an unusual thing to see the men lol- 
ling in hammocks while the women labor 



Pebbles From An African Beach 37 

for food. They are kept busy with farm 
life, basket, mat and fishnet making, drying 

seeds, fish and meat for food, and picking 
and preparing cotton for the men to weave 
into cloth. 

The chief exports of Liberia are palm oil and 
kernels, piasava, rubber and ivory. Before the 
great war broke out 70 per cent, of the trade 
was with Germany. The revenue of the Re- 
public is about $600,000 annually, derived 
mainly from customs duties. A system of 
barter prevails in the interior. Coin and paper 
money as used in the coast settlements are not 
in circulation. Tobacco, salt, gin and rum con- 
stitute money. 

Rum ! That is the one great besetting sin of 
the native — the one blight upon Liberia, as it 
is upon America — for the native African learns 
the vices of American and European civiliza- 
tion before he learns the virtues, and rum finds 
its way farther into the interior than the mis- 
sionary. 

Rum ! It is an evil against which, unfortu- 
nately, the native does not protest. It has re- 
mained for enlightened Europe and Christian 
America to cry aloud against the ruin of Africa 
by the rum they themselves so plentifully and 
persistently send there. No race is so quickly 
and so utterly demoralized by liquor as the 
African. It is as true with him in America 
as it is with him in Africa. 

One cask of rum shipped by some enlight- 
ened firm of some Christian country has devilled 
all Africa, Liberia included, and now the liquor 
traffic hovers over fair Liberia like some foul 
bird of ill omen. It is no exaggeration to say 
that there exists no greater enemy to Liberia 
and her people than this debasing evil inflicted 
by Christians nations. There is no greater 
obstacle to the progress of civilization and Chis- 



38 Pebbles From An African Beach 

tianity in the Republic than this insidious foe 
which is destroying vigorous manhood and 
promising womanhood. 

"What white man make it for?" is the un- 
answerable question the poor native invariably 
asks when he comes to himself, recovers his 
senses for his drunken stupor and revelries, and 
sees the awful havoc wrought by rum. Why, 
indeed — we may echo the great question — do 
civilized nations send missionaries to the 
heathen, and in the same ship send tons of the 
damnation to sink him to still lower depths 
of shame and misery? Can we wonder, then, 
that the blind heathen should ask a reason for 
that which is ruining him body and soul? 

Hear a native Liberian in his own words: 

"Dem first stranger dat come we country for 
trade he bring too much rum. Dem rum he 
waste for ground (threw upon the ground). 
Bassa men no like him den. He no saby um. 
Now he like um plenty. He be fine. 

"Dem daddy (missionary) say rum be bad — 
he kill we people, he do all dem bad ting. He 
mouth no lie bit, but he no tell me who make 
dem rum. We no make um. He come from 
big, big 'Merica and Europe. Steamer bring 
am we country. White man make um. White 
man saby book (Bible) ; black man no saby 
book. S'pose rum be bad; what for white man 
make um? To kill we? S'pose white man 
stop for make um ; stop for send um w T e country ; 
we no drink him den. We no die." 

The sinning nations are principally Holland, 
Great Britain, the United States and Germany 
up to the opening of the war. There is no push- 
ing the evil upon the shoulders of Europe: 
America is too deeply involved for that. 







Bird's Eye View of Monrovia, Ca] 




d of Liberia, West Coast Africa. 



Pebbles From An African Beach 39 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER V 

1. What is the extent of the natural re- 
sources of Liberia? 

2. Have the natives developed these re- 
sources? 

3. What is the nature of their farm life? 

4. Name some of the drawbacks to their 
farm life? 

5. To what extent are the coast inhabitants 
engaged in industries and agriculture? 

6. Are the natives nude or dressed? 

7. What is the chief industry of Liberia? 

8. What are some of the agricultural prod- 
ucts? 

9. What are "salt sticks?" 

1 0. Name the chief timbers. 

11. What live stock are raised? 

12. Describe the mineral features. 

13. What native use is made of the min- 
erals? 

14. What are some other native industries? 

15. What are the chief exports of Liberia? 

16. What is the annual revenue? 

17. What is the extent of the liquor traffic? 

18. Who is responsible for it? 



40 Pebbles From An African Beach 
CHAPTER VI 

Spiritual 

Liberia contains vastly more than the beau- 
tiful scenery, the records of achievement, the 
social and political equality, the industrial op- 
portunity and the vast natural resources de- 
scribed in the preceding chapters. She is to 
answer to the world and to God for more than 
the .sold and diamonds and timbers and com- 
mercial products: for all these are perishable. 
Though they offer powerful inducements to 
ambitious men and proud nations to increase 
their stores of wealth, they are mean and paltry 
in comparison with those larger and grander 
possibilities for the mental and moral uplift 
of the people. No conceivable riches of the Re- 
. public, latent or developed, are equal to the 
value of those millions of immortal souls. 

"What is a man profited if he gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul?" And what is 
a nation profited if it gain in fields and mines 
and revenues, and its citizens be not lifted into 
mental and moral development and brought 
into contact with the strengthening influence 
of the Gospel of Christ? One native of Liberia 
lifted out of the darkness of heathenism into 
the light of civilization, may not of itself trans- 
form the commercial or political life of the 
Republic; but who can tell the far-reaching 
influence of one such moral transformation 
upon the life of the race or the country ? That 
untutored savage, though a pagan, is for all that 

superior to the lifeless metal or the senseless 
vegetation in the womb of the earth, because 



Pebbles From An African Beach 41 

unlike the things of earth, he was made in the 
image of God. 

Religiously, the natives of Liberia have 
yielded largely to Mohammedanism, though for 
the most part this religion is a crude mixture 
of paganism and Islam. True, some of the 
tribes, like the Mandingoes, are devout followers 
of Mohammed. They read the Koran, build 
schools for instruction, and mosques for prayer, 
and are in direct communication with Mecca, 
to which they make regular pilgrimages. They 
are aggressive propagandists of Mohammedan- 
ism which is rapidly spreading over Western 
Africa and is pressing down into Liberia. In- 
deed, more pagans are being Mohammedan ized 
in Liberia than Christianized. 

But to a large extent devil worship, with all 
its weird and uncanny vagaries and mysteries, 
is the all-pervasive law of the native of Liberia. 
Evil spirits fill tha air and earth and sky, and 
frequent every nook and corner of the jungles. 
They inhabit dark and deep caves over great 
rocks and trees and forbidding streams. They 
are in majestic supremacy and are accounted 
worthy to receive honor and homage of their 
simple and deluded worshippers, even to sac- 
rificial offerings of food and drink. And if life 
would be bearable and successful, charms and 
fetiches must be purchased from the "devil 
doctor" — high priests of the evil spirits — and 
these worn upon the body to ward off disease 
and guard against misfortune by propitiatipg 
these demon spectres, otherwise disastrous con- 
sequences will follow. Such is the religion of 
the natives of Liberia. They neglect their 
homes, their farms, everything, and devote 
themselves to the observance of their barbarous 
rites. 

But, strange to say, the native in his heathen 



42 Pebbles From An African Beach 

life does not consider it as such. The descrip- 
tions given by Christians of his heathensim do 
not exist to him. It is Only when lifted out of 
the miry clay of pagan conditions and stood 
upon the rock of higher ideas and broader out- 
look that he is able to see the contrast and 
appreciate the change. He always rejoices in 
the transition from darkness to light. Until 
then he is the child of some charmed influence. 
He is ever alert to protect himself against the 
forces of evil about him. His faith rests in his 
fetich. 

As a result, in their blindness and ignorance, 
the natives resort to practices which are most 
cruel, horrible and revolting. For centuries 
these things have been going on, and they will 
continue until their condition is bettered by 
enlightenment and Christian influence. Mean- 
time, moral and spiritual night rests like a pall 
upon the people. Rescue must come from 
without. In their superstition and degradation 
they cannot help themselves. With out- 
stretched hands they unconsciously plead for 
help. 

Polygamy, too, is practiced in almost every 
heathen town in Liberia. It is not diminishing. 
Among some sf the tribes, like the Bassas. 
there is no limit to the number of wives a man 
may have if he can purchase them. The ques- 
tion of polygamy is stubborn and colossal. The 
Christian Church in Liberia has a giant antag- 
onist in this deeply rooted and universal sys- 
tem. 

But why should heathenism be so prevalent 
in all parts of Africa when all parts have been 
partitioned among the great Powers and 
brought under the dominion of civilized, Chris- 
tian peoples? 

Because, for one thing, we have the amazing 




Liberian Coat of Arms. 




The Rice Mills of Liberia. 



Pebbles From An African Beach 43 

spectacle of Christian England and France re- 
fusing sanction to Christian people for the ex- 
tension of their faith. We have the strange 
paradox of these Christian countries practicing 
a restrictive policy towards Christian missions 
and giving free rein to Mohammedanism and 
practically becoming patrons of the Mohamme- 
dan faith— on the ground of political expedi- 
ency. 

There is no question involved as to whether 
Europe had a right to carve up Africa; but 
whether, having done so, Europe has made right 
use of her privileges. It is for the good of the 
world that large sections of the world should 
not be left in barbarism; that no race has a 
right to territory which it is unable to use or 
which it uses in such a way as to prove detri- 
mental to mankind. But alongside of that 
principle stands this: That civilized nations 
in taking over the territory of barbarians, are 
bound to give proper compensation; to make 
adequate provision for the moral and spiritual, 
as well as material, preservation of the race; 
and that the natives shall share in the benefits 
of the new order of things. In short, Europe 
has no business in Africa unless it is for the 
good of the Africans as well as for the good of 
Europeans. 

Then, for another thing, heathenism is still 
so prevalent because the Christian people of 
Europe and America have failed to measure 
up to their opportunity — almost failed to do 
their duty. There is not a foot of Liberia, not 
a section of Africa, that could not be civilized 
and Christianized by aggressive action on the 
part of church and state working in harmony. 
Selfish commercialism can be held in check — 
and should be — justice administered, education 
promoted, and the Christian religion established 



44 Pebbles From An African Beach 

a ; the La-is of society. Only the beginnings 
have been made; the real work yet remains to 
be done. Liberia and Africa must be guided 
by Christ, not by greed. 

Heathenism is the cancer eating at the vitals 
of the continent. The Christian Church, acting 
as the re" re entative of Christ on earth, is the 
physician. 

nd what is the cure? Simple enough — just 
what our own Foreign Mission Board, together 
vi'th o L ber denominational boards is trying to 
do — what it cannot do any faster or any better, 
1 eeau^e Christian pastors take little or no in- 
terest in missionary work, and Christian people 
give so grudgingly of their mone} r for heathen 
uplift. The cure is the establishing of enter- 
prises — call them missions, or industrial schools, 
or anything you please — that have for their 
object the civilizing and Christianizing of the 
native tribes, and have for their basis the primi- 
tive industries of the people as a starting point. 

This industrial or agricultural mission (there 
is no better word) should begin with "a small 
group of native buildings— workshops, school 
houses, chapel, dormitories and farm. These 
would constitute the nucleus of a native civil- 
ization which would aim to touch and improve 
every phase of native life, material and spirit- 
ual. The native huts would be made more per- 
manent and sanitary ; the farms more pro- 
ductive and varied in crops; the methods of 
administering to the sick more humane and 
scientific; the knowledge of agriculture and 
mechanical implements improved; simple in- 
struction in letters imparted; moral precepts 
and sentiments inculcated, and the teachings 
of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Divine Book 
instilled in mind and hearts.'' 

Such enterprises among some of the tribes 



Pebbles From An African Beach 45 

of Liberia, and in other parts of Africa, are 
materially benefiting the natives, who are read- 
ily adapting themselves to the new conditions. 
Instead of wars and poverty and darkness there 
is peace, progress and prosperity. It is only 
through such means — the planting of religious 
and industrial missions — that Liberia will be 
reclaimed from the barbarity and superstition 
that have enveloped it for ages. 

The opportunity is now ripe for just such 
work. Young men from the interior, who have 
visited the coast, return with new conceptions 
of life. Thev are becoming restless and dis- 
satisfied with the old order of things. They 
want something better, though they may not 
know just what. Fetichism is not meeting their 
needs as it has their fathers', and confidence 
in it is gradually waning. The time is ripe 
for the introduction of the principles of the 
Christian religion with their corresponding 
practical results. 

Moreover, the native is a splendid subject for 
evangelism. His simple, child-like faith, his 
docility, his sympathetic heart, like the fertile 
soil of his native heath, make virgin ground 
for Gospel seed. He is intensely religious, and 
his religion i^ as much a part of himself as his 
arm or lea.'. 

Right here a word may be said of the great 
contribution made by this pioneer of Baptist 
Missions, Lott Carey, to the development of the 
little colony that grew into the Liberia of today. 
Though born a slave, he purchased his own 
freedom at a cost of $850, and endowed with 
a fear of God, a love of liberty and an un- 
conquerable faith in his race, he po^se^sed a 
fixed purpose for God and the land of his 
fathers. 

As was said above, missionary operations fob 



46 Pebbles From An African Beach 

lowed closely upon the settlement of the colon- 
ists. Deacon William Crane, who was teaching 
a tri-weekly night school for the benefit of the 
many colored Baptists who were members of 
the First Church in Richmond, assisted in the 
organization of the Richmond Missionary So- 
ciety in 1815. This Society was organized with 
the view solely to missions in Africa, but was 
auxiliary to the Triennial Convention which 
represented the united effort for Foreign Mis- 
sions of all the Baptists in America, both North 
and South. 

Carey and Teague, both colored, were sent out 
by this society as missionaries to Liberia in 

1821, sailing January 23. As modest as this 
beginning may have seemed at that time, it was 
the beginning of the American Baptist Mis- 
sions in the great Continent. After looking 
about for a suitable place to begin work, Carev. 
Teague and colonists arrived in Monrovia in 

1822, and early in the year 1823 a church 
known as the Providence Baptist was organized. 
Carey, who was a man of unusual intelligence 
and energy, became its pastor. 

Having shown much interest in the develop- 
in en t of the colony which was governed by ap- 
pointees by the Colonization Society in Amer- 
ica. Carey in 1825 was appointed vice-agent, 
and soon afterwards vice-governor, and in 1828, 
when Governor Ashmun came to America to 
die, the whole burden of administration fell 
upon the shoulders of the great man. On his 
death bed Mr. Ashmun urged that Carey be 
permanently appointed to conduct the affairs 
of this colony, expressing perfect ocnfldence 
in his integrity and in his ability to dis- 
charge duties of this office. 

Very naturally the faithful discharge of all 
these various duties left little time to detail 



Pebbles From An African Beach 47 

missionary work. He did not neglect any of the 
civil interest in this little colony. Here we are 
reminded of Mr. Ashmun's own words: "He 
gave ample proof that he cherished the most 
ardent devotion to the colony and would sooner 
sacrifice life itself than to jeopardize its inter- 
ests. Truly. And if Mr. Ashmun could have 
lived a few years longer he would have seen his 
prophesy realized. For indeed it was while 
preparing to assert his right and defend its 
property that Governor Carey's mortal career 
was accidentally ended. A factory at Digby, a 
few miles north of Monrovia, had been robbed 
by the natives and satisfaction demanded and 
refused. A slave trader had been allowed to 
store his goods in the very building made va T 
cant by this robbery. A letter of remonstrance 
which had been sent to the slave dealer was 
intercepted and destroyed by the natives. In 
this state of affairs Governor Carey considered 
himself bound to call out the militia. 

One evening while engaged with others mak- 
ing cartridges, the accidental overturning of 
a candle communicated fire to some loose pow- 
der and then almost instantly to the entire 
magazine. The explosion resulted in the death 
of eight of the company. Six of these sur- 
vived until the next day. Governor Carey 
lingered until the following day, the 10th of 
November, 1828. Thus ended the life of this 
Baptist hero and martyr. "Greater love hath 
no man than this that he lay down his life for 
his friend." 

Another effort was made in 1832, when the 
Methodist Church sent out her first missionary, 
Melville B. Cox. Some years before Daniel 
Coker, a Methodist preacher, one of the eighty- 
eight emigrants on the ship Elizabeth — the 
Mayflower of Liberia — organized the company 



48 Pebbles From An African Beach 

on shipboard into the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. On Cox's arrival he found the church 
Coker had planted and fostered. This proved 
the tiny seed from which has grown the stal- 
wart tree of Liberian Methodism. 

Another initial undertaking was by the Epis- 
copalians in 1835 in behalf of the colonists 
from America. Bishop Ferguson, a colored. 
man, who was consecrated in 1885, and who lias 
recently died, broadened the work so that it. 
exerted a vital influence upon the interior.. The- 
bishop left behind a remarkable record for- 
ridelity and industry. His specialty was raising 
up an African clergy, but he also conducted, 
forty-five excellent schools scattered along the 
coast. 

The Muhlenberg Mission of the Lutheran 
General Synod began work in Liberia in I860,. 
though it was originally in behalf of natives 
from the Con<2,o reeio'n who were taken from 
a slave ship. The Rev. Morris Officer gathered 
forty of the children into a school which con- 
tinues to this day and is doing excellent work. 
There is a girls' boarding school at the coast 
and eight schools are conducted in the interior. 
The Rev. David A. Day was connected with this 
work for twenty-five years, until his death, and. 
at one time he was chief of one of the tril e-\ 

Thirty-three years ago, on December 3, 1883., 
six young Bapti-K well equipped, with faith 
in Cod and confidence in Neero Baptists, set 
sail for Liberia on the barque Monrovia. After 
more than forty days, storm-tossed and sick, 
thev reached their field. They were the pioneers 
of Negro Baptist Foreign Mission work. To- 
^ay Baptists have a splendid Mission Station, 
located on a two hundred and twenty-five acre 
tract, with two country kitchens, a. laundry of 
corrugated iron, a fine play shed, a building for- 



Pebbles From An African Beach 49 

boys, a dining hall, with a central building 
mostly of corrugated iron, consisting of seven 
rooms, and over part of it a second story form- 
ing a girls' dormitory. This mission, though 
only three years old, is regarded as one of the 
busiest places in the country, is worth at least 
$6,000 and is on the outer rim of any civilized 
community. 

They have another mission near Grand 
Bassa, a Bible and Industrial Academy, with a 
building worth a little more than $3,000 on a 
300-acre tract of land. Altogether the Liberian 
Baptists have now more than fifty churches, a 
number of which are in good houses, and with 
quite three thousand communicant*. For many 
years, very unfortunately, white Baptists, both 
North and South and English, have withdrawn 
all help from Liberia. All outride Baptist 
Mission work now being done in the Republic 
is by the National Baptist Convention and its 
district body, the Lott-Carev Convention. The 
work of the District body is centered about 
Brewerville. one of the best settlements in all 
Liberia. The African Methodist Episcopal 
(A. M. E.) and the African Methodist Episco- 
pal Zion (A. M. E. Z.) also have work in Li- 
beria. The Methodist Episcopal (M.E.) Church 
keens a resident Bishop in Liberia and the A. 
M. E. have a Bishop make annual visits to the 
Republic. The Caroline Donivan Industrial In- 
stitute — a sort of Tuskegee in Bassa County — 
organized as a Government school, is going 
forward on a large scale and promises to revo- 
lutionize farming in the whole country. But 
what a field is still left unharvested. Say ye 
not, there are yet four months, then cometh 
the harvest. Lift up your eyes, the fields are 
white unto the harvest ; Liberia has a population 
of 2,040,000 people; 40,000 are the descendants 



50 Pebbles From An African Beach 

of American Negroes, while the 2,000,000 are 
aborigines. But the Lord of the harvest wants 
reapers. 0, Negroes of America, why stand ye 
here all the day idle? Thrust in the sickle for 
the harvest is ripe. 

The Americo-Liberians need our Christian 
co-operation to help win the pagan millions 
about them to our Christ. They need our su- 
nerior knowledge of the arts and sciences, of 
books and industries, to help them do for their 
native land what has made once primitive 
America the richest country on earth — to fell 
the forests, and upturn the soil, and harness 
the cataracts, and blast out the minerals, and 
turn the very earth into bread. They need our 
skill and experience to help beat back and beat 
down the fever and make the climate as healthy 
as nature intended it to be ; to help build roads, 
and open highways, and throw bridges across 
the creeks and rivers. The field of opportunity 
is ripe unto the harvest and awaits but our 
Christian and brotherly interest and co-opera- 
tion. 

But missionary work in Liberia has its diffi- 
culties. The English language is generally em- 
ployed in evangelistic and educational work 
among the people, but owing to the poverty of 
the native dialects, the interpreters find it hard 
to convey to the primitive mind the underlying 
truths of our religion. Thus a missionary 
preaching from the text: "I will come on thee 
as a thief in the night," was very much embar- 
rassed when the interpreter told his hearers 
that Jesus was a thief and would come as such. 
This, of course, was not welcome news to the 
audience, and the disorder and uproar that fol- 
lowed would have broken up the meeting but 
for a timely correction that put the text in its 
true light. 




The Sisters waiting for the teacher. 




"I'm on my way to the miss'on.' 



Pebbles From An African Beach 51 

Then again, the peculiar problem and diffi- 
culty is to rebuild the native from the ground 
up. In lands like Persia, India, China and 
Japan, the missionaries deal with a culture and 
literature older than our own. But in Liberia 
there is neither literature nor culture. There 
they must reduce the language to written forms ; 
they must teach the arts and trades ; they must 
establish social customs and institutions; they 
must formulate a moral code, and they must 
do all this in ways adapted to the African na- 
ture. The problem is the creation of a Chris- 
tian African civilization — in Liberia the Bible 
and the plow must go together. There is par- 
excellence the field for industrial education, 
and in every important mission the teaching of 
agriculture and the trades occupies a basic posi- 
tion in the educational scheme. 

All this is in marked contrast to the earlier 
methods, which accounts for much of the early 
failure. The missionary of yesterday ignored 
the point. He failed to build on the life of the 
natives. Without taking the time to learn what 
native institutions and purposes were, he pro- 
ceeded to destroy and not to heed that which 
was deepest and most vital in native life and 
thought. But now the missionary begins with 
those things that concern the native most — his 
huts, farms, children, wives, cattle, his work 
and material things, and from these he advances 
step by step to a higher conception of thought 
and life. 

And with the discovery and tested merits of 
the new methods of evangelism, we find our 
efforts paralyzed by the pitiful lack of money. 
So few dollars needed and so many millions of 
Negroes who won't give them ! A sister nation 
crying for the Gospel and a vast army of pro- 
fessed disciples deaf to their master's command : 



52 Pebbles From An African Beach 

'"Preach the Gospel to every creature!" Ten 
million Negroes in America bemoaning the 
lack of liberty and opportunity here, yet doing 
nothing to maintain the unbounded liberty 
and golden opportunity secured by their broth- 
ers across the sea. 






Pebbles From An African Beach 53 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VI 

1. What is the religious belief of the na- 
tives of Liberia? 

2. What is the nature of the devil wor- 
ships ? 

3. Does the native welcome the Christian 
religion ? 

4. To what extent is polygamy practiced? 

5. What is the reason for the prevalence 
of heathenism ? 

6. What is the European attitude towards 
missions? 

7. How has the Church measured up to 
its opportunity? 

8. What is the remedy for heathenism? 

9. Along what line should Missions work? 

10. To what extent have Industrial Mis- 
sions proven a success? 

11. Is the native open to evangelism? 

12. In what years, and. by whom, were the 
first missionary efforts made?. 

13. When did our Baptist missionary work 
begin ? 

14. What are its present results? 

15. What are some of the difficulties of 
missionary work in Liberia? 

16. How are Negro Baptists in America 
responding to the needs of Liberia? 



54 Pebbles From An African Beach 

AFTERWORD 

And what of the future? A new era is about 
to dawn for Liberia. It means better things 
for the Republic ; the dense darkness dispelled ; 
the interior opened up to the Gospel of Christ. 
The land is to be free from every curse and 
shame and its two million native inhabitants 
lifted out of degradation into life and purity. 
In the path of Christian missions will follow 
exploration, commerce, trade and political in- 
fluence, and branching out from their present 
strategic centers on the coast, will push their 
way through the dark forests into the regions 
oeyond. They will transform the country, until 
oarbarism give way to peaceful industries, pa- 
ganism bows to civilization, and rude huts are 
replaced with bustling towns and thriving 
cities. Soon there will be a great host of 
Africa's own sons and daughters enlisted under 
the banner of Immanuel and winning signal 
victories in His name. 

All this will be brought about by the era 
)f peace following the great war — being foughv 
in Africa and throughout the world. Whether 
there is to be a new map of Africa or not, the 
little Republic will emerge undaunted, and 
there is bound to be a speeding up of colonial 
enterprises throughout the continent that will 
react upon Liberia. Railroad companies, com- 
mercial corporations and governments will be 
engrossed in new activities. Every resource of 
the continent will be exploited. There will be 
a corresponding acceleration of Christian en- 
terprises. Plans continental in their scope will 
be set on foot. Leaders of heroic mold will 
take the front ranks. Prayer, volunteers, money, 
co-operation will be poured out by the home 



i 



Pebbles From An African Beach 55 

churches. The liquor traffic will be brought 
.to an end by international governmental action. 
The Powers will learn, and act accordingly, 
that Christianity is essential to civilization; 
and instead of the paltry one hundred Amer- 
ican missionaries, black and white, scattered 
•over the country today, there will be — and 
should be — one thousand men and women — 
Christian men and women with a vision — who 
know the science of mineralogy and the art 
of agriculture; who -know the good of a Bible, 
a plow and a hoe. The Golden Era for Liberia 
is about to dawn. 

Who knows — to repeat the question asked 
in the Retrospective — who knows but that, 
through Liberia, the Negro is to come into 
his own? To become civilized and pro- 
gressive requires incentive and opportuni- 
ty. The American Negro had the incentive 
and has made the opportunity which was 
denied him, and who can say that he has 
not the innate power, under favorable con- 
ditions, to rise to the highest level of civi- 
lization. The Liberian Negro has the op- 
portunity; he needs but more incentive, 
when he, too, will rise to heights of culture 
and prosperity as yet undreamed of. 

The point should be clear : Let the Negro of 
America give of his intelligence, his money, 
his influence — best of all, give himself to the 
development of the Negroes of Liberia. 

And so, if the black man's achievements in 
the remote past count for anything, and his 
recent progress indicates anything, it may be 
safely said that his future is boundless in its 
possibilities. We see tomorrow in today, be- 
cause we have read the record of yesterday. 



56 Pebbles From An African Beach 

CONSTITUTION 

of the 
REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA 



PREAMBLE 



adSri^^ *? institution - maintenance and 

existence ot the body politic, to protect it and 
to furnish the individuals who compose t wh* 
he power of enjoying in safety anTtranquH v 
their natural rights and the ble^gs of 1 ff 
and whenever these great objects afe not ob' 

erZent aT^ IT 6 3 ^ ht t0 ^ ^e got 
ther'aLt t0 take measures necessary "for 
Sf - f ? *y> Prosperity and happiness, 
nealth of Liberia, m Africa, acknowledge with 
Therefore, we the People of the Common 
devout gratitude, the goodness of God inTant- 

and political, religious and civil libertv do in' 
order to secure these blessings for ourselWand 
our posterity, and to establish justice nsure do 
nestic peace, and promote the gen^HSfZ" 

Ss y a P r q y aSSOdate ^^constitu e our-' 
selves a Free, Sovereign and Independent State 
by the name of the REPUBLIC OF LIBERll 
and do ordain and establish this ConStion' 
for the government of the same ^ 0nst,tutlon 



Pebbles From An African Beach 57 



ARTICLE I 

Bill of Rights 

Section 1. All men are born equally free 
and independent, and have certain natural, 
inherent and inalienable rights: among which 
are the rights of enjoying and defending life and 
liberty, of acquiring, possessing and protecting, 
property, and of pursuing and obtaining safety 
and happiness. 

Section 2. All power is inherent in the peo- 
ple; all free governments are instituted by their 
authority, and for their benefit, and they have- 
the right to alter and reform the same when 
their safety and happiness require it. 

Section 3. All men have a natural and in- 
alienable right to worship God according to the 
dictates of their own consciences, without ob~ 
struction or molestation from others: all per- 
sons demeaning themselves peaceably, and not 
obstructing others in their religious worship, 
are entitled to the protection of law. in the free 
exercise of their own religion, and no sect of 
Christians shall have exclusive privileges or 
preference over any other sect ; but all shall be 
alike tolerated; and no religious test whatever 
shall be required as a qualification for civil 
office, or the exercise of any civil right. 

Section 4. There shall be no slavery within 
this Republic. Nor shall any citizen of this 
Republic, or any person resident therein, deal 
in slaves, either within or without this Republic, 
directly or indirtcely. 

Section 5. The people have a right at all 
times, in an orderly and peaceable manner, to 
assemble and consult upon the common good, 
to instruct their representatives, and to petition 



58 Pebbles From An African Beach 

?the government, or any public functionaries 
for the redress of grievances. 

Section 6. Every person injured shall have 
remedy therefor by due course of law; justice 
shall be done without sole denial or delay; and 
in all cases , not arising under martial law or 
upon inpeachment, the parties shall have a 
right to a trial by jury, and to be heard in per- 
son or by counsel, or both. 

Section 7. No persons shall be held to answer 
for a capital or infamous crime, except in cases 
of impeachment, cases arising in the army or 
Jiavy, and petty offences, unless upon present- 
ment by a grand jury ; and every person crimin- 
ally charged shall have a right to be seasonably 
furnished with a copy of the charge, to be con- 
fronted with the witnesses against him — to have 
compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in 
his favor; and to have a speedy, public and 
impartial trial by a jury of the vicinity. He 
shall not be compelled to furnish or give evi- 
dence against himself; and no person shall for 
the same offense be twice put in jeopardy of life 
or limb. 

Section 8. No person shall be deprived of 
life, liberty, property, or privilege, but by judg- 
ment of his peers or the law of the land. 

Section 9. No place shall be searched nor 
person seized on a criminal charge or suspicion, 
unless upon warrant lawfully issued, upon prob- 
able cause supported by oath, or solemn affirma- 
tion, specially designating the place or person, 
and the object of the search. 

Section 10. Excessive bail shall not be re- 
quired, nor excessive fines imposed, nor exces- 
sive punishments inflicted. Nor shall the Legis- 
lature make any law impairing the obligation 
of contracts nor any law rendering any acts 
punishable when it was committed. 



Pebbles From An African Beach 59 

Section 11. All elections shall be by ballot; 
and every male citizen of twenty-one years of 
age, possessing real estate, shall have the right 
of suffrage. 

Section 12. The people have a right to keep 
and bear arms for the common defence ; and, as 
in time of peace armies are dangerous to lib- 
erty, the}' ought not to be maintained without 
the consent of the Legislature ; and the military 
power shall always be held in exact subordina- 
tion to the civil authority and be governed by it. 

Section 13. Private property shall not be 
taken for public use without just compensation. 

Section 14. The powers of this government 
shall be divided into three distinct departments : 
Legislative, Executive and Judicial, and no per- 
son belonging to one of these departments shall 
exercise any of the powers belonging to either 
of the other. This section is not to be con- 
strued to include Justices of the Peace. 

Section 15. The liberty of the press is essen- 
tial to the security of freedom in a state; it 
ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this 
Republic. 

The printing press shall be free to every per- 
son who undertakes to examine the proceedings 
of the Legislature, or any branch of govern- 
ment : and no law shall ever be made to restrain 
the rights thereof. The free communication of 
thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable 
rights of man, and every citizen may freely 
speak, write and print on any subject, being 
responsible for the abuse of that liberty. 

Jn prosecutions, for the publication of papers, 
investigating the official conduct of officers, or 
men in a public capacity, or where the matter 
published is proper for public information, the 
truth thereof may be given in evidence. And 
in all indictments for libels the jury shall have 



60 Pebbles From An African Beach 

the right to determine the law and the facts, 
under the direction of the courts, as in other 
•cases. 

Section 16. No subsidy, charge, impost or 
duties ought to be established, fixed, laid, or 
levied, under any prextet whatsoever, without 
the consent of the people, or their representa- 
tives in the Legislature. 

Section 17. Suits may be brought against 
the Republic in such manner and in such cases 
:as the Legislature may by law direct. 

Section 18. No person can, in any case, 
toe subject to the law martial, or to any penalties 
or pains by virtue of that law (except those 
employed in the army or navy, and except the 
militia in actual service) but by the authority 
of the Legislature. 

Section 19. In order to prevent those who 
are vested with authority from becoming op- 
pressors, the people have a right at such periods, 
and in such manner, as they shall establish 
by their frame of government, to cause their 
public officers to return to private life and to 
fill up vacant places by certain and regular 
■elections and appointments. 

Section 20. That all prisoners shall be bail- 
able by sufficient sureties; unless for capital 
offences, when the proof is evident, or presump- 
tion great: and the privilege and benefit of the 
writ of habeas corpus shall be enjoyed in this 
Republic, in the most free, easy, cheap, expe- 
ditious and ample manner, and shall not be sus- 
pended by the Legislature, except upon the most 
urgent and pressing occasions, and for a limited 
time, not exceeding twelve months. 



Pebbles From An African Beach 61 

ARTICLE II 

Legislative Poavers 

Section 1. That the legislative power shall 
be vested in a Legislature of Liberia, and shall 
consist of two separate branches — a House of 
Representatives and a Senate, to be styled the 
Legislature of Liberia: each of which shall 
have a negative on the other, and the enacting 
style of the acts and laws shall be, "It is enacted 
by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the Republic of Liberia in Legislature 
assembled/' 

Section 2. The Representative shall be elect- 
ed by and for the inhabitants of the several 
counties of Liberia, and shall be apportioned 
among the several counties of Liberia as fol- 
lows: The county of Zdontserrado shall have 
four representatives, the county of Grand Bassa 
shall have three, and the county of Sinoe shall 
have three; and all counties hereafter which 
shall be admitted into the Republic shall have 
one representative, and for every ten thousand 
inhabitants one representative shall be added. 
No person shall be a representative who has not 
resided in the county two whole years imme- 
diately previous to his election and who shall 
not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the 
county, and does not own real estate of not less 
value than one hundred and fifty dollars in the 
county in which he resides, and who shall not 
have attained the age of twenty-three years. 
The representatives shall be elected quadren- 
nially, and shall serve four years from the time 
of their election. 

Section 3. When a vacancy occurs in the 
representation of any county by death, resig- 



62 Pebbles From An African Beach 

nation, or otherwise, it shall be filled by a new 
election. 

Section 4. The House of Representatives 
shall elect their own Speaker and other officer* • 
they also shall have the sole power of impeach- 
ment. r 

Section 5. The Senate shall consist of two 
members from Montserrado county, two from 
Orrand Bassa county, two from Sinoe county 
and two from each county which may be here- 
after mcorported into this Republic. No per- 
son shall be a Senator who shall not have re- 
sided three whole years immediately previous 
to his election in the Republic of Liberia, and 
wno shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of 
the county which he represents, and who does 
not own real estate of not less value, than two 
hundred dollars in the county which he repre- 
sents, and who shall not have attained the aee 
of twenty-five years. The Senator for each 
county who shall have the highest number of 
votes shall retain his seat six years, and shall 
be elected quadrennially, and those elected Mav, 
A. D. 1905, shall retain their seat for six years 
from the time of their election, and all who 
afterwards are elected six years. 

When a vacancy occurs" in the office of Vice- 
President by death, resignation or otherwise, 
after the regular election of the President and 
Vice-President, the President shall immediately 
order a special election to fill said vacancy 

Section 6 The Senate shall try all inpeach- 
ments ; the Senators being first sworn or solemn- 
ly affirmed to try the same impartially and ac- 
cording to law; and no person shall be convicted 
out by the concurrence of two-thirds of the 
Senators present. Judgment, in such cases, 
snail not extend beyond removal from office 
and disqualification to hold an office in the Re- 



Pebbles From An African Beach 63 

public; but the party may be tried at law for 
the same offence. When either the President 
or Vice-President is to be tried, the Chief Justice 
shall preside. 

Section 7. It shall be the duty of the Legis- 
lature as soon as conventiently may be, after the 
adoption of this Constitution, and once at least 
in every ten years afterwards, to cause a true 
census to be taken of each town and county of 
the Republic of Liberia; and a representative 
shall be allowed every town having a popula- 
tion of ten thousand inhabitants ; and for every 
additional ten thousand in the counties after 
the first census one representative shall be added 
to that county, until the number of representa- 
tives shall amount to thirty ; and afterwards one 
representative shall be added for every thirty 
thousand. 

Section 8. Each branch of the Legislature 
shall be judge of the election returns and quali- 
fication of its own members. A majority of 
each shall be necessary to transact business, but 
a less number may adjourn from day to day and 
compel the attendance of absent members. Each 
House may adopt its own rules of proceedings, 
enforce order, and, with the concurrence of 
two-thirds, may expel a member. 

Section 9. Neither House shall adjourn for 
more than two days without the consent of the 
other; and both Houses shall always sit in the 
same town. 

Section 10. Every bill or resolution which 
shall have passed both branches of the Legis- 
lature shall, before it becomes a law, be laid 
before the President for his approval ; if he ap- 
proves, he shall sign it; if not, he shall return 
it to the Legislature with his objections. If 
the Legislature shall afterwards pass the bill or 
resolution by a vole of two-thirds in each branch 



64 Pebbles From An African Beach 

it shall become a law. If the President shall 
neglect to return such bill or resolution to the 
Legislature with his objections for five days 
after the same shall, have been so laid before 
him, the Legislature remaining in session dur- 
ing that time, such neglect shall be equivalent 
to his signature. 

Section 11. The Senators and Representa- 
tives shall receive from the Republic a compen- 
sation for their services to be ascertained by law ; 
and shall be privileged from arrest, except for 
treason, felony, or breach of the peace, while 
attending at, going to, or returning from, the 
session of the Legislature. 



Pebbles From An African Beach 65 

ARTICLE Til 

Executive Power 

Section 1. The Supreme Executive Power 
shall be vested in a President, who shall bt 
elected by the people, and shall hold his office 
for the term of four years. He shall be Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the army and navy. He 
shall in the recess of the Legislature have power 
to call out the militia, or any portion thereof, 
into actual service in defence of the Republic. 
He shall have power to make treaties, pro- 
vided the Senate concur therein by a vote of 
two-thirds of the Senators present. He shall 
nominate and, with the advice and consent of 
the Senate, appoint and commission all Ambas- 
sadors and other public Ministers and Consuls, 
Secretaries of State, War, of the Navy, and the 
Treasury, Attorney General, all Judges of 
Courts, Sheriffs, Coroners, Registers, Marshal, 
Justices of the Peace, Clerk of Courts, Notaries 
Public, and all other officers of State, Civil and 
Military, whose appointment may not be other- 
wise provided for by the Constitution, or by 
standing laws. And in the recess of the Sen- 
ate he may fill any vacancies in those offices, 
until the next session of the Senate. He shall 
receive all Ambassadors and other Public Min- 
isters. He shall take care that the laws are 
faithfully executed: he shall inform the Legis- 
lature, from time to time, of the condition of 
the Republic, and recommend any public meas- 
ures for their adoption which he may think 
expedient. He may, after conviction, remit 
any public forfeitures and penalties, and grant 
reprieves and pardons for public offences, except 
in cases of impeachment. He may require in- 



66 Pebbles From An African Beach 

formation and advice from any public officer 
touching matters pertaining to his office. He 
may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the 
Legislature, and may adjourn the two houses 
whenever they cannot agree as to the time of 
adjournment. 

Section 2. There shall be a Vice-President, 
who shall be elected in the same manner and 
for the same term as that of the President, and 
whose qualifications shall be the same; he shall 
be President of the Senate, and give the casting- 
vote when the House is equally divided on any 
subject. And in the case of the removal of the 
President from office, or his death, resignation, 
or inability to discharge the powers and duties 
of the said office, the same shall devolve on the 
Vice-President; and the Legislature may by 
law provide for the cases of removal, death, 
esignation, or inability, both of the President 
and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall 
hen act as President, and such officer shall act 
accordingly until the disability be removed, or 
a President shall be elected. 

Section 3. The Secretary of State shall keep 
the records of the State, and all the records and 
papers of the legislative body, and all other 
public records and document not belonging to 
any other department, and shall lay the same, 
when required, before the President or Legisla- 
ture. He shall attend upon them when re- 
quired, and perform such other duties as may 
be enjoined by law. 

Section 4. The Secretary of the Treasury, 
or other persons who may by law be charged 
with custody of public moneys, shall, before 
he receive such moneys, give bonds to the State, 
with sufficient sureties, to the acceptance of the 
Legislature, for the faithful discharge of his 
trust. He shall exhibit a true account of such 




Liberian Coat, of Arms. 




The Rice Mills of Liberia. 



Pebbles From An African Beach 67 

moneys when required by the President, or 
Legislature, and no moneys shall be drawn 
from the Treasury but by warrant from the 
President in consequence of appropriation 
made by law. 

Section 5. All Ambassadors and other Pub- 
lic Ministers and Consuls, the Secretary of 
State, of War, of the Treasury, and of the Navy,. 
the Attorney General and Post Master General, 
shall hold their office during the pleasure of 
the President. All Justices of the Peace, Sher- 
iffs, Coroners, Marshals, Clerks of Courts, Regis- 
ters, and Notaries Public, shall hold their offices 
for the term of two years from the date of their 
respective commissions; but they may be re- 
moved from office within that time by the 
President at his pleasure and all other officers 
whose term of office shall not be otherwise lim- 
ited by law shall hold their offices during the 
pleasure of the President. 

Section 6. Every civil officer may be re- 
moved from office by impeachment for official 
misconduct. Every such officer may also be 
removed by the President upon the address of 
both branches of the Legislature, stating their 
particular reason for his removal. No person 
shall be eligible to the office of President who 
has not been a citizen of this Republic for at 
least five years, and who shall not have attained 
the age of thirty-five years, and who is not 
possessed of unencumbered real estate to the 
value of six hundred dollars. 

Section 7. The President shall at stated times 
receive for his services compensation which 
shall neither be increased nor diminished dur- 
ing the period for which he shall have been 
elected: and before he enters on the execution 
of his office he shall take the following oath or 
affirmation : — 



«68 Pebbles From An African Beach 

/ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I ivill 
faithfully execute the office of President of the 
.Republic of Liberia, and will, to the best of my 
ability, preserve, protect and defend the Con- 
stitution, and enforce the laws of the Republic 
of Liberia. 

ARTICLE IV 

Judicial Department 

Section 1. The judicial power of this Re- 
public shall be vested in one Supieme Court, 
.and such subordinate Courts as the Legislature 
may from time to time establish. The Judges 
-of the Supreme Court and all other Judges of 
^Courts, shall hold their office during good be- 
haviour ; but may be removed by the President, 
-on the address of two-thirds of both Houses for 
that purpose, or by impeachment, and convic- 
tion thereon. The Judges shall have salaries 
(established by law, w'hich may be increased, 
but not diminished, during their continuance 
in office. They shall not receive other perquisites 
or emoluments whatever from parties, or others, 
on account of any duty required of them. 

Section 2. The Supreme Court shall have 
original jurisdiction in all cases affecting Am- 
bassadors, or other Public Ministers and Con- 
suls, and those to which a country shall be a 
party. In all i other cases the Supreme Court 
shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to 
law and facts, with such exceptions and under 
such regulations as the Legislature shall from 
-time to time make. 

Section 3. The Judges of the Supreme Court 
rshall be the Chief and two associate Justices. 



Pebbles From An African Beach 69 



ARTICLE V 

Miscellaneous Provisions 

All laws now in force in the Commonwealth 
of Liberia and not repugnant to the Constitu- 
tion shall be in force as the laws of the Republic 
of Liberia until they shall be repealed by the 
Legislature. 

Section 2. All Judges, Magistrates, and other 
officers now concerned in the administration of 
justice in the Commonwealth of Liberia, and 
all other existing civil and military officers there- 
in, shall continue to hold and discharge the 
duties of their respective offices in the name 
and by the authority of the Republic until 
others shall be appointed and commissioned in 
their stead, pursuant to the Constitution. 

Section 3. All towns and municipal corpor- 
ations within the Republic, constituted under 
the laws of the Commonwealth of Liberia, shall 
retain their existing organizations and priv- 
ileges, and the respective officers thereof shall 
remain in office and act under the authority of 
this Republic in the same manner and with 
like power as they now possess under the laws 
of said Commonwealth. 

Section 4. The first election of President, 
Vice-President, Senators and Representatives 
shall be held on the first Tuesday in October. 
in the Year of Our Lord Eighteen Hundred 
and Forty-seven, in the same manner as the 
election of members of the Council are held in 
the Commonwealth of Liberia; and the votes 
shall be certified and returned to the Colonial 
Secretary, and the result of the election shall be 
ascertained, posted and notified by him, as is 



70 Pebbles From An African Beach 

now by law provided in case of such members 
of Council. 

Section 5. All other elections of President, 
Vice-President, Senators and Representatives 
shall be held in the representative towns on the 
first Tuesday in May in every two years; to 
be held and regulated in such a manner as the 
Legislature may by law prescribe. The re- 
turns of votes shall be made to the Secretary 
of State, who shall open the same and forth- 
with issue notices of the election to the persons 
apparently so elected Senators and Representa- 
tives ; and all such returns shall be by him laid 
before the Legislature at its next ensuing ses- 
sion, together with a list of the names of the 
persons who appear by such returns to have 
been duly elected Senators and Representatives ; 
and the persons appearing by said returns to* 
be duly elected shall proceed to organize them- 
selves accordingly as the Senate and House of 
Representatives. The vote for President shall 
be sorted, counted and declared by the House 
of Representatives; and if no person shall ap- 
pear to have a majority of such votes the Sen- 
ators and Representatives present shall, in con- 
vention, by joint ballot, elect from among the 
persons have the three highest number of votes 
a person to act as President for the ensuing 
term. 

Section 6. The Legislature shall assemble 
once at least in every year, and such meeting 
shall be on the first Monday in January, unless 
a different day shall be appointed by law. 

Section 7. Every Legislator and other of- 
ficer appointed under this Constitution shall, 
before he enters upon the duties of his office, 
take and subscribe a solemn oath, or affirmation, 
to the President in convention of both Houses, 
anH the President shall administer the same 



PebbUs From An African Beach 71 

to the Vice-President, to the Senators, and to 
the Representatives in like manner. When the 
President is unable to attend, the Chief Justice 
of the Supreme Court may administer the oath 
or affirmation, to him at any place, and also 
to the Vice-President, Senators and Represen- 
tatives, in convention. Other officers may take 
such oath, or affirmation, before the President, 
Chief Justice, or other person who may be 
designated by law. 

Section 8. All elections of public officers 
shall be made by a majority of the votes, ex- 
cept in case otherwise regulated by the Con- 
stitution, or by law. 

Section 9. Offices created by this Constitu- 
tion, which the present circumstances of the 
Republic do not require that they shall be filled, 
shall not be filled until the Legislature shall 
deem it necessary. 

Section 10. The property of which a woman 
may be possessed at the time of her marriage, 
and also that of which she may afterwards 
become possessed, otherwise than by her hus- 
band, shall not be held responsible for his debts, 
whether contracted before or after marriage. 

Nor shall the property thus intended to be 
secured to the woman be alienated otherwise 
than by her free and voluntary consent, and 
such alienation may be made by her eitner by 
sale, devise or otherwise. 

Section 11. In all cases in which estates are 
insolvent the widow shall be entitled to one- 
third of the real estate during her natural life, 
and to one-third of the personal estate, which 
she shall hold in her own right, subject to 
alienation by her, by sale, devise or otherwise. 

Section 12. No person shall be entitled to 
hold real estate in this Republic unless he be 
a citizen of the same. Nevertheless this article 



72 Pebbles From An African Beach 

shall not be construed to apply to Colonization, 
Missionary, Educational, or other benevolent 
institutions, so long as the property or estate 
is applied to its legitimate purpose. 

Section 13. None but Negroes or persons of 
Negro descent shall be eligible to citizenship in 
this Republic. . 

Section 14. The purchase of any land- by any 
citizen or citizens from the aborigines of this 
country for his or their own use, or for the 
benefit of others, as estate or estates, in fee 
simple, shall be considered null and void to all 
intents and purposes. 

Section 15. The improvement of the native 
tribes and their advancement in the art of 
agriculture and husbandry being a cherished 
object of this Government, it shall be the duty 
of the President to appoint in each county 
some discreet person whose duty it shall be to 
make regular and periodical tours through the 
country for the purpose of calling the attention 
of the natives to those wholesome branches of 
industry, and of instructing them in the same, 
and the Legislature shall, as soon as it can con-, 
veniently be done, make provisions for these 
purposes by the appropriation of money. 

Section 16. The existirtg regulations of the 
American Colonization Society, in the Com- 
monwealth, relative to immigrants, shall re- 
main the same in the Republic until regulated 
by compact between the Society and the Re- 
public ; nevertheless, the Legislature shall make 
no law prohibiting emigration. And it shall 
be among the first duties of the Legislature to 
take measures to arrange the future relations 
between the American Colonization Society and 
this Republic. 

Section 17. This Constitution may be altered 
whenever two-thirds of both branches of the 



Pebbles From An African Beach 7$ 

Legislature shall deem it necessary ; in which 
case the alterations or amendments shall first 
be considered and approved by the Legislature 
by the concurrence of two-thirds of the members 
of each branch and afterwards by them sub- 
mitted to the people, and adopted by two-thirds 
of afl the electors at the next biennial meeting 
for the election of Senators and Represen- 
tatives. 

DONE in CONVENTION, at Monrovia, 
in the County of Montserrado, by the 
unanimous consent of the people of the 
Commonwealth of Liberia, this Twenty- 
sixth day of July, in the Year of Our Lord 
One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty- 
seven, and of the REPUBLIC the first. In 
witness whereof we have hereto set our 
names. 

MONTSERRADO COUNTY, 

S. Benedict, President J. N. Lewis, 

H. Teage, Beverly R. Wilson, 

Elijah Johnson J. B. Gripon. 

GRAND BASSA COUNTY, 

John Day A. W. Gardner, 

Amos Herring, Ephraim Titler. 

COUNTY OF SINOE, 

R. E. Murray. 
Jacob W. Prout, Secretary to the Convention 




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